USA > California > Los Angeles County > Los Angeles > Historical and biographical record of Los Angeles and vicinity : containing a history of the city from its earliest settlement as a Spanish pueblo to the closing year of the nineteenth century ; also containing biographies of well known citizens of the past and present > Part 64
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Leaving Iowa, Mr. Steffa came to Ontario, Cal .; in November, 1887, and in March, 1888, settled in Pomona, where he has since resided. During the first two years here he carried on a drug business. Next he spent two years in horti- culture. Afterward he embarked in the clothing
business, and, in 1898, added to his original busi- ness a shoe department, which is now an im- portant part of the business. He is one of the leading clothiers and haberdashers of this part of the county, and is accredited with a thorough knowledge of every detail of his business. Besides his store, he owns a ranch of twenty-five acres, of which twenty acres are planted in oranges and the balance in deciduous fruits. This orchard is near Pomona, in San Bernardino county.
Through attendance at the Pilgrim Congrega- tional Church and through his membership in the lodges of Odd Fellows and Masons, Mr. Steffa keeps in touch with leading religious and philan- thropic movements of Pomona. Local enter- prises for the benefit of the people receive his encouragement and help. In his views he is progressive, but not radical. Liberal in the sup- port of every worthy object, the community finds in him a valued citizen. His public spirit causes him to take a warm interest in the affairs of his immediate neighborhood, well illustrating that better quality in men that delights first of all in the upbuilding of communities. By industry he has attained success. He had little help when a boy. His parents, John and Mary Steffa, being in moderate circumstances financially, he was forced to become self-reliant at an early age. His father is still living and is now in his eighty- second year.
Mr. Steffa was married in Iowa to Mrs. Mary (Schlichting) Paulicek, a native of Iowa. She is the mother of two children, Emil and Julia.
OHN H. COOLMAN, horticulturist, builder and contractor, is known as a promoter of many of the vast enterprises which the pe- culiar soil and climatic conditions of California have made indispensable, in order to effect the development and utility of her boundless re- sources.
Born in Medina county, Ohio, October 22, 1852, he is a son of William and Leah (Hyde) Coolman, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Ohio, both of Gerinan descent. During the infancy of Jolin H., his parents moved to Allen county, Ind., and cast their lot among the early settlers of Fort Wayne and vicinity. In addition to the pursuit of agriculture his father
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was a contractor and builder, his excellent work and public-spirited efforts gaining him consider- able prominence, which was abruptly terminated by his death in 1862, from the effects of a fall re- ceived while constructing a building.
In 1889 Mr. Coolman came to California, and for a number of years was engaged in building and contracting. In the meantime he purchased an interest in the Villinger nursery, with which he was identified for a short time. Subsequently he purchased a ranch and combined his horticul- ture with nursery interests, but relinquished the latter in 1898. Previous to 1899 he owned a fif- ty-acre ranch, forty acres of which he himself improved from wild and uncultivated land. Ten acres of the property became known as a model orange ranch, the fruit being considered the best in Southern California.
Mr. Coolman has been foremost in all enter- prises for the advancement of Covina. He was the prime mover in organizing the Covina Land and Water Company, and has, since its incorpo- ration in 1895, been president thereof, as well as director and general manager. He sustains about the same relation to the Covina Water Company, of which he is now vice-president. One of his most pronounced successes toward the upbuilding of Covina was in securing the right of way of the Southern Pacific Railroad through the town, and inducing the officials of the road to take advan- tage of the franchise. The wisdom of this move has been increasingly demonstrated, and largely augmented by his further zeal in securing the right of way between Bassett and Pomona. Mr. Coolman's relations with the railroad company have been of a particularly harmonious nature, thus promoting the interests of Covina.
In politics Mr. Coolman is a Democrat. He is a member of the Masonic order at Covina, and also of the Covina Country Club, which he was largely instrumental in organizing and establish- ing. He was married at Fort Wayne, Ind., to Mary J. Cordway, of that town. Two of the brothers Coolman were soldiers in the Civil war; Alfred received injuries in the service which re- sulted in his death, and Adam, having survived, is now residing in Decatur, III. Another brother, George W., is now the leading contractor and builder of Covina, Cal.
Mr. Coolman represents that rare and admira-
ble type who, surrounded by opportunities out of the general order of things, have known how to take advantage of them. He has thus made himself an indisputable force in the town of liis adoption, and enjoys the appreciation and respect of a grateful community.
HOMAS E. FINCH. Among the citizens of Los Angeles county conspicuous for their ability and worth is Mr. Finch, who is an important factor in the industrial interests of Covina, where he is a prosperous horticul- turist. He was born June 12, 1853, in Mont- gomery county, Va., a son of the late William and America (Bradford) Finch, the former of whom was of English ancestry and the latter of Scotch descent.
When about twelve years old he moved with his parents to Claiborne county, Tenn., where, on the farm which his father had purchased, he grew to manhood. He attended the private schools of the neighborhood, the knowledge there gleaned being afterwards supplemented by good reading and by lessons obtained through experience. In 1873 he began the battle of life, starting for himself as a farmer in East Tennessee, and here he remained until 1876, when, accom- panied by his wife and one brother, he migrated to California, the great El Dorado of the west. Arriving in Los Angeles county in December, 1876, he located first in the town of Artesia, where he engaged in agricultural pursuits, an oc- cupation which he afterwards followed in various localities in California, including the San Joaquin valley, Alameda and Ventura counties. Return- ing from the last-named county to Los Angeles, he was engaged in general farming in Puente for seven years, coming from there to Covina in 1898. Having here erected a brick hlock, he embarked in mercantile business wit's his son, William L., now deceased, and under the firm name of T. E. Finch & Son carried on an extent- sive trade in groceries until the death of the junior partner, in September, 1899. Mr. Finch gave up mercantile pursuits at that time, and has since devoted his attention to horticulture, a branch of industry in which he is meeting with deserved success.
Mr. Finchi takes an intelligent interest in local
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affairs, endeavoring by all means within his power to promote the welfare of the town and county. He was one of the organizers of the Covina Valley Orange Growers' Association, which has been a financial success from its in- ception, and in which he is a director. As a citizen and as a man he is held in high esteem, and is a valued member of the German Baptist Church.
While living in Tennessee Mr. Finch married Melissa Bird Hepner, who was born in West Virginia. Six children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Finch, namely: Cora Ellen, now Mrs. George Chamberlain, of Puente, Cal .; William L., deceased; Hattie, George W., Thomas L. and Raymond R.
DMOND H. BARMORE. Our beautiful city by the sunset sea has attracted to it hundreds of men of enterprise and ability, who have had the keen foresight to discern the possibilities of the future. Among this number is the president and general manager of the Los Angeles Transfer Company, which is one of the largest organizations of its kind in Southern Cal- ifornia, its steady growth being in a large meas- ure due to the wise judgment and business acumen of its principal officer. Organized in 1886, shortly after the arrival of Mr. Barmore in Los Angeles, it was made a corporation in 1889, and has since brought its stockholders excellent returns on their investment. It furnishes em- ployment to fifty hands and has twenty-seven teams constantly employed. From the first it has proved a financial success for its projectors. It controls the right of transfers on all railroads running into the city and is the only transfer company here that has agents on the road.
In the life of Mr. Barmore are illustrated the results of perseverance, judicious management and determination. The people of his city, fully appreciating his worth, accord him a place in the foremost ranks of prosperous business men. From a very early period in his life he has been familiar with business, hence has gained a wide and helpful experience. Boru in Jeffersonville, Ind., the only son of a successful business man, be was in youth given every advantage which the best institutions of learning afforded. In 1882 he graduated from the University of Michi-
gan at Ann Arbor. He then returned home and became interested with his father in the ship- building business, the title of the firm becoming Barmore & Son. Four years later, however, he left the east and established his home in Los An- geles, where he owns and occupies a residence at No. 1027 Burlington avenne. Besides the enter- prise with which his name is most closely asso- ciated he is connected with a number of other financial enterprises in this city. He is also a member of the Chamber of Commerce and the Merchants' and Manufacturers' Association.
In politics a Republican, Mr. Barmore advo- cates with earnestness the principles of that party and supports its candidates with his ballot. He is liberal in the support of every worthy enter- prise which is brought to his attention, and the city has in him a valued citizen, one who takes a commendable pride in Los Angeles and its ad- vantages, and gives his encouragement to move- ments looking to the material advancement of the town. While living in Indiana he was married, in 1884, to Miss Mary G. Downham, a native of Delaware. They are the parents of two sons, David S. and Edmond H.
EORGE H. WATERS. While much of the fruit raised in California is shipped to the market in its fresh state, it has been found impossible to get the entire product to the distant points of shipment before the process of decay be- gins. Hence, the canning and drying of fruit has become one of the most important industries of the state. It is this occupation which Mr. Waters successfully follows. He is the princi- pal member of the firm of G. H. Waters & Co., of Pomona, who have made a specialty of the following brands of canned goods: Orange Blossom, Mocking Bird, Chrysanthemum and California Poppy. In addition to these brands, which are their leaders, they have nine other brands on the market, most of their product be- ing sold in eastern cities. During the busy can- ning season they furnish employment to about four hundred hands, which makes their industry one of the largest of its kind in all of this fruit- growing region.
In Hendricks county, Ind., Mr. Waters was born July 12, 1846, a son of Joseph and Julia
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(Hocker) Waters, both natives of Kentucky and of Welsh extraction. He grew to manhood upon his father's farm and early acquired a knowledge of agriculture, at which he was occupied until 1876, with the exception of one year in the mer- cantile business. During 1876 he moved to Den- ver, Colo., and engaged there in the wholesale fruit business, remaining there until 1890, when he sold out his Denver interests and came to Pomona, Cal. The following year he embarked in the drying and canning of fruit, under the firm name of G. H. Waters & Co., and this has been the title of the firm ever since, his two part- ners being the Pitzer brothers.
While his attention has been principally con- centrated upon his business affairs, Mr. Waters has neglected no duty of citizenship. Local en- terprises receive his encouragement. For four years he was a member of the board of city trus- tees of Pomona. He has also been interested in the advancement of the public schools. He is an elder in the Christian Church of Pomona and one of the largest contributors to its maintenance. He is married, his wife having been Miss Harriet Fleece, of North Salem, Ind.
ESLEY WILBUR BECKETT, M. D. It is certain that skilled physicians and sur- geons, like the subject of this article, are in great demand wherever they elect to make their place of abode, and it is only the mediocre who are left behind in the race towards success and prominence. Dr. Beckett was born on the Pacific slope, and dearly loves this portion of the country. His father, Lemuel D. Beckett, a na- tive of New Jersey, born in 1818, and by occu- pation a farmer and merchant, grew to manhood in the east, and there married Miss Sarah S. Chew, who survives him, he having died April 27, 1885. For many years they dwelt in Oregon, whither they came in 1852, and later they re- moved into the adjoining state, California.
The date of the birth of Dr. Wesley W. Beckett is May 31, 1857, and the place of his nativity was Forest Grove, Washington county, Oregon. His boyhood was chiefly spent in California, and his elementary education was exclusively acquired here. Having determined to devote his life to the medical profession, he took up studies along
that line and attended Cooper Medical College and the University of Southern California, in which institution he was graduated April 11, 1888. In the meantime he went to New York City and pursued a complete course of special studies in the New York Post-Graduate School and Hospital, receiving there the practical ex- perience, under the supervision of old and trained physicians, which he felt that he needed ere en- tering upon his actual professional career.
Returning to California and later receiving his diploma as related above, he opened an office in Los Angeles in February, 1889, and from that time to the present has faithfully discharged the duties devolving upon him. He has met with richly deserved success, and enjoys the friend- ship and sincere regard of a host of patients and acquaintances. In surgical cases he takes spe- cial interest, and has performed a number of ex- ceedingly delicate and difficult operations which have brought him fame. Thoroughly imbned with the progressive spirit of the times he neg- lects no opportunity for advancement and im- provement, and by taking the leading medical journals and attending all of the various medical meetings of this part of the state he keeps posted in modern methods and discoveries in the science and treatment of disease. From time to time he has contributed valuable articles to the Southern California Medical Journal and to eastern publi- cations, and his opinion is highly esteemed in the Los Angeles County, the California State and the Southern California Medical Associations, to all of which he belongs.
From his youth to the present time Dr. Beckett has been an earnest friend of education. Prior to his entering upon his professional career he taught schools successfully for six years in San Luis Obispo county, Cal., and for two years held the important office of deputy superintendent of schools in that county. In his political faith he is a Republican; fraternally he is a Mason. Act- ive in the work of the Methodist Episcopal Church, he now holds the office of trustee and is one of the enthusiastic and liberal contributors to the cause of Christianity.
On New Year's Day, 1882, Dr. Beckett mar- ried Iowa Archer, danghter of William C. and Mary M. Archer, who came to California when Mrs. Beckett was only four years old. She is a
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native of Iowa, and received her education in the public schools of this state and in the State Normal at San José, Cal. Two sons, Wilbur Archer and Francis H., bless the home of our subject and his estimable wife.
RAT MIRANDE, a pioneer of Pomona and proprietor of the well-known Mirande vine- yard, was born in Olorin, department of Passes-Pyrenees, France, September 15, 1849. His father, F. P. Mirande, was also a native Frenchman. Until he was eighteen years of age our subject passed his life in agricultural pur- suits, chiefly in connection with viticulture. He received a fair education in his native tongue and since coming to America has gained proficiency in English and Spanish.
Mr. Mirande emigrated to this country in 1867, his route being from Havre to San Francisco, via New York, Aspinwall and Colon. He left his home September 14 of that year and reached his destination November 23. After remaining in 'Frisco for ten months (during which period he engaged in business on Pine street) he removed to Los Angeles and embarked in sheep-raising, then the chief industry of the county. In ten years his flock numbered ninety-five hundred, and in 1877 he sold four thousand head at one sale. He had visited the present site of Pomona as early as 1869, purchased ten acres here in 1879 for $750, and the next year located on the land where he now resides and where he has since been engaged in the manufacture of wines. In 1882-83 he disposed of his sheep business, at which time his large flock included one thous- and wethers.
he has found it impossible to keep in stock wines of greater age than ten years. Ports, sherries and other light wines which have made California so famous have their choicest representatives in his cellars. Not a little of his land is also given up to the raising of citrus and deciduous fruits.
Mr. Mirande is known for his public spirit, is, in short, a representative man of California, en- joying the full confidence of the business and so- cial communities with which he has been identi- fied through all the past years. He is a Demo- crat, but with independent proclivities. His wife was Sarah Martinez, a native of Los Angeles county. They have five daughters and three sons: Marceline N., John, Grace Lorine, Rob- ert G., Stephen S., Caroline M., Hortense and Annie.
ENJAMIN F. EDWARDS. Such measures as are calculated to promote the progress of horticulture in Southern California find in Mr. Edwards a firm friend and champion. He is himself a successful horticulturist, and his orange orchard of ten acres at Covina is by no means one of the least valuable in this fine valley. On this place he has made his home since 1886, meantime planting the orange trees, caring for them season after season and watching their growth and development with the keen interest only an enthusiast can feel. His home has been in this valley since 1884. Among the local or- ganizations with which he is identified are the Covina Water Company, of which he is president and a director; the Covina Irrigating Company, of which he is a director; the Covina Citrus As- sociation, of which he is vice-president and a di- rector; and the A. C. G. Deciduous Association.
At various times Mr. Mirande has added to his Mr. Edwards was born March 31, 1849, in Chester county, Pa., a son of Joshua and Rebecca (Thompson) Edwards, both natives of Pennsyl- vania and the former of Welsh and the latter of English extraction. In his native county he grew to manhood, meantime attending the Dick- inson College at Carlisle, Pa , from which he graduated in 1875. Having decided to enter the original vineyard until the tract devoted to viti- culture now embraces forty-three and one-lialf acres. In 1884 and 1885 he was offered $20,000 for the teu acres which he had purchased five years before for $750. This offer he declined, but he consented to sell for $10,000 a piece of real estate for which he had paid $750 and on which the People's Bank now stands. His judgment ' ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church, he of values, whether of live stock or land, has been remarkable. The same success has attended his wine interests and the demand for the products of his vineyard has been so broad and incessant that
began to study theology and soon entered upon pulpit work, laboring in Indiana and Kansas for a number of years. Subsequently he engaged in ministerial work in Phoenix, Ariz. In 1883
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he came to California and for a short time of age he left New York and settled in Wiscon- preached at Artesia and later at Azusa. In 1886 sin, opening a grocery at Baraboo, where he con- tinued in business for six years. Going from there to Michigan, he began to farm in Kalama- zoo county. A number of years later he returned to Wisconsin, where he embarked in the milling business in Rock county. he turned his attention from preaching to the fruit business, in which he has since been inter- ested. However, he is still active in religious work, and is now treasurer of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Covina and a steward in the same. Politically he has for years voted with the Republicans in national issues, while at the same time he has also given the Prohibition party his support where it has been practicable. By his marriage to Catherine Fuss, of Emmitsburg, Md , he had three children, but Maude E. is the only one now living.
C ALVIN B. OLIN. Through an active busi- ness life of many years, passed in various states, Mr. Olin established and maintained a reputation as a conservative, honorable busi- ness man, whose standard of business integrity was the highest and his own transactions irre- proachable. While he has been retired from business cares since coming to Pomona in 1886, yet his life is by no means an idle or aimless one; in the management of his seven-acre orange or- chard he finds sufficient to engross his attention. It has been his aim to make his place one of the best in the neighborhood and he has spared 110 pains in introducing such improvements as will increase the profits from the land.
The ancestors of Mr. Olin came to this coun- try from Wales in a very early day. He was born in Wyoming county, N. Y., March 22, 1828, a son of John and Maria (Smith) Olin, na- tives respectively of Shaftsbury, Vt., and Che- nango county, N. Y. His mother was ninety- nine years of age at the time of her death and his father died at the age of eighty. The latter was a son of Ezra Olin, a native of Vermont. In early life John Olin was a tanner and currier, but subsequently he became a farmer of Wyoming county, N. Y., where he remained un- til his death.
The boyhood days of Calvin B. Olin were passed quietly and uneventfully on a farm. His education was commenced in public schools and completed in Middlebury, N. Y., at the Wyoming Academy. After leaving the academy he taught one termi of school. When twenty-seven years
After several years he again changed his loca- tion, this time settling in Ottawa, Kans., where he carried on a book and stationery store for fifteen years. Finally he selected Pomona as his permanent location and established his home in this place. He has witnessed much of the growthi of the city and has been a factor in the develop- ment of its material resources. His support is given to measures for the benefit of the com- munity. Worthy enterprises he supports, both morally and financially. He contributes to the aid of religious work, but is not a member of any church. Having been convinced of the harni done by the liquor traffic and believing that by its license our country compromises with a great evil, he has allied himself with the Prohi- bition party and supports all its efforts in the line of temperance reform. He and his wife (who was formerly Sylvia Burbank, of Lowell, Mass.) have the esteem of their associates and hold a high place in the best social circles of their town.
OBERT N. MARTIN took up his residence in the Covina valley in 1875, purchasing a squatter's claim of forty acres which he de- veloped and rendered fertile, and planted twenty acres with citrus and deciduous fruits. Of the original forty acres he now owns ten, which tract is used for the cultivation of oranges.
A native of Livingston county, Ky., he was born May 20, 1850. His parents were Robert and Elizabeth (Stringer) Martin, natives of Kentucky. His father had an enviable reputa- tion as an agriculturist and an all-around, reliable citizen. He came from Virginia when a boy and spent the remainder of his life in Kentucky. Greatly interested in the cause of education, he was for a number of years a successful teacher in the public schools, later serving for several terms as assessor of Livingston county, Ky. He came of Englishi ancestry.
Robert N. Martin spent his boyhood days in
Potter, Bulla
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his native county and obtained his education in the private schools. Later he profited by oppor- tunities of a practical business nature, when at the age of eighteen lie assumed charge of liis father's business, remaining in that capacity until his twenty-third year. In 1873 he began a series of changes in location, living for short intervals in San Luis Obispo county, Cal., Los Angeles and El Monte, his wanderings permanently end- ing in 1875 upon the ranch where he now lives.
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